Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll: He has burned through eight of his nine lives, leaving him with only one life left. Puss sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives.

Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado. A runtime of one hour and forty-two minutes. Streaming on Peacock with a PG rating. “Puss in Boots” voiced by Antonio Banderas is living his life. He’s full of passion, and fight. You can’t forget the main ingredient of narcissism.

Well until he realizes he’s used eight out of his nine lives. Now he’s down to his final life. After an encounter with a “Wolf” voiced by Wagner Moura a bounty hunter of life. “Puss in Boots” is apprehensive and scared.

He does the unthinkable and takes asylum with an old cat lady “Mama Luna” voiced by Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Where he meets “Perrito” voiced by Harvey Guillen. A dog on hard times pretending to be a cat.

In retirement and a shell of himself. He’s being sought out by “Goldilocks” voiced by Florence Pugh, “Mama Bear” voiced by Olivia Colman, “Papa Bear” voiced by Ray Winstone, and “Baby Bear” voiced by Samson Kayo. They want to hire him to rob “Jack Horner” voiced by John Mulaney. He has a map to a wishing Star. That will grant you one wish of your heart’s desire.

“Puss in Boots” realizes he can change his outcome in life. Now he’ll link up with an old flame “Kitty Softpaws” voiced by Salma Hayek and an unwanted friend in “Perrito”. This will turn into an all-out journey of who can get to the wishing Star first. With the “Wolf/Death” also on his rear end, trying to take that final life. Expect a lot of changes to occur while there all along this journey. In this amazing spinoff to the “Shrek” franchise.

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” was amazing. DreamWorks did an amazing job with the visual effects. The plot was great. The storyline was entertaining. I laughed throughout it. This is the definition of a children’s film that’s equally enjoyable for an adult. It came from “Shrek” so it’s no shocker there. I hope to see an eventual “Donkey” solo film or another film with “Puss in Boots” linking up with his old ‘Shrek” cast mates. Which was alluded to toward the end. You won’t be disappointed. I can see why it made a ton of money and is up for an Oscar. Excellent film. I give it five more fires.

The animation is a clear step-up from previous Dreamworks movie, they really looked at Spiderman Into the Spiderverse and just used the same approach. The movie uses a blend of 3D and 2D and it works beautifully. Everything is textured like a watercolor painting, different objects on screen move a different frame rate to make action scenes very compelling, love the camerawork as well with very dynamic shots and use of exaggerated proportions to enhance the viewing experience, with elements such as fire, speed lines and dust drawn on screen.

Story-wise it’s a very simple but cool and well executed concept. There are three antagonist to this story: a straight up bad guy; a relatable party that just happens to have diverging interests to Puss, and finally the literal incarnation of Death. The movie is not long, pacing works, and in between they put legitimately funny moments.